49-24 is a respectable score for an opening season win; and it's not as if Nevada were playing Idaho State - E Wash was ranked in the mid teens in the FCS preseason polls, depending upon which one you reference. The Eagles played hard, they played well, and they have some d*** fine athletes on their team.
Even so, for a team trying to compete on a national stage, let alone Boise State, AND 'moving up' (depending upon how you look at things) in the world within the next couple of seasons, plus Ault's apparently tenuous position right now, Nevada needed this to be a statement game.
The score not withholding, the stats between the two were a bit too close for a true Theodore Roosevelt statement...we're not talking James Buchanan bad here, but maybe more along the lines of Rutherford B. Hayes territory (for those who aren't total history geeks: it could have been Nevada vs. Southern Utah bad).
| E Washington | Nevada | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Downs | 20 | 24 | |||||||||
3rd down efficiency | 6-14 | 8-15 | |||||||||
4th down efficiency | 0-1 | 3-3 | |||||||||
| Total Yards | 432 | 553 | |||||||||
| Passing | 270 | 339 | |||||||||
Comp-Att | 21-40 | 27-38 | |||||||||
Yards per pass | 12.9 | 12.6 | |||||||||
| Rushing | 162 | 214 | |||||||||
Rushing Attempts | 28 | 44 | |||||||||
Yards per rush | 5.8 | 4.9 | |||||||||
| Penalties | 4-35 | 9-90 | |||||||||
| Turnovers | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
Fumbles lost | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
Interceptions thrown | 1 | 0 | |||||||||
| Possession | 25:49 | 34:11 |
Nevada had a respectable 553 total yards...but gave up 432 in return; Nevada had 24 1st downs to EW's 20; and time of possession was WAY closer than it needed to be. So congrats to Mike Bradeson for doing the impossible and making our secondary even WORSE than it was last year. Granted, first game and all, but...GAH!
Compare those figures to, say, the statistics from last year's game at Colorado State:
| Nevada | Colorado St | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Downs | 23 | 21 | |
| Total Yards | 420 | 369 | |
| Passing | 251 | 190 | |
| Rushing | 169 | 179 | |
| Penalties | 11-64 | 4-36 | |
| 3rd Down Conversions | 7-13 | 5-12 | |
| 4th Down Conversions | 0-0 | 1-1 | |
| Turnovers | 5 | 0 | |
| Possession | 30:59 | 29:01 |
I would also like to point out that Nevada gave up as many 1st downs to E Wash as they did to Notre Dame in last years opener; they also gave up only 62 fewer yards passing and 16 fewer yards rushing than they did in that same fateful 35-0 loss at South Bend.
And, of course, once again penalties were a killer; I don't think anything more has to be said there.
Next week the Pack gets to avenge itself upon Colorado State. Now CSU gets to play Colorado on Saturday, and the Buffs weren't very good last year. Then again, neither was Colorado State, who may very well end up sauntering into Mackay with the knowledge that their last victory was September 19th, 2009 against Nevada. That is one game, especially considering the remainder of the OOC schedule, that Ault simply cannot afford to lose.
Misc:
Nevada as a team rushed for a total of 214 yards...total; Kaepernick led that category with a whopping 60 yards on 11 carries.
Kaep was also 26/37 passing (70.270270270%) for 306 yards; Tyler Lantrip added a 1/1 for 33 yards setting up a 1 yard TD run by Lampford Mark with 3:38 left in the game.
Mike Ball had two kick returns for a total of 75 yards, 57 of which were on the opening kick. Mike Ball is a stud.
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